OpenDNS - Faster DNS, Faster Internet

I've been wondering for a few weeks why my internet connection had started slowing down the last few weeks and I haven't been able to figure out what was causing it. Last night I finally got it figure out. I had almost always used OpenDNS as my DNS server whenever I configure my machines (I wrote a post about how to do that here: http://techthroes.blogspot.com/2010/03/use-opendns-to-protect-yourself.html). Well 2 or so weeks ago, while troubleshooting a slow internet connection, I changed the settings on my machine to PLDT's default DNS servers. I made a mental note to instead set up OpenDNS on the router instead so I wouldn't have to do that on each of my machines. Guess what? I forgot to do it on the router - LOL.

So last night I remembered what I forgot to do while trying to isolate the cause of my slow connection. Pages took too long to load, about 2-3 minutes to load a page like SpeedTest.net. I was slower with large pages like Facebook or even Blogger. I decided to try using OpenDNS again. This time, I set it up on the router. Guess what? Every page I threw at my browser suddenly loaded a lot more faster. Facebook loaded in about 5 seconds. Blogger in 4 seconds. A welcome surprise was my torrent downloads, Linux images mind you, became  inexplicably faster. I'm not a networking wizard, so I can't figure out how resolving DNS addresses can make downloads faster. I can understand how that would make finding other computers seeding the images would be, but I'm amazed that the overall download speeds have shot back up to what they were before my troubles started.

Anyway, I'm just glad that it sped up. I can finally have the computer finish downloads faster. That means I wouldn't have to leave the computer on as long as it does when downloads take longer to finish.